Home » Steamed White Sugar Cake (Bak Tong Gou) 蒸白糖糕

Steamed White Sugar Cake (Bak Tong Gou) 蒸白糖糕

by Angie Liew
Steamed White Sugar Cake
Steamed White Sugar Cake / Bak Tong Gou Recipe Video 蒸白糖糕食谱视频
Watch Huang Kitchen Youtube Channel Banner

Steamed White Sugar Cake

A Traditional Chinese Sweet Snack: Steamed White Sugar Cake (Bak Tong Gou) 蒸白糖糕

Steamed White Sugar Cake is a classic in Chinese bakeries. It is a traditional Chinese snack that is white in colour, sweet and light as it is steamed. Freshly Steamed White Sugar Cake is deliciously soft and moist. The cake is not too sweet, slightly chewy and is wonderfully spongy from the honeycomb-like appearance on the inside of the cake. Making it is like renewing childhood memories as it is a favourite childhood cake for many people.

Steamed White Sugar Cake

Deliciously Soft and Sweet Steamed Cake with A Honeycomb Texture

The recipe for Steamed White Sugar Cake is super easy. Making this cake is very straight forward with just a few ingredients namely rice flour, instant yeast, sugar and water.  Start by dissolving instant yeast with warm water and leave to proof till foamy. Meanwhile, mix together rice flour and water. Use room temperature or cool water and a whisk to mix until there are no lumps in the batter. Next, add hot sugar syrup into the rice flour mixture and continue mixing till well combined.

Set aside to cool to lukewarm before adding the foamy instant yeast. Cover and leave in a warm enviroment until big bubbles appear on the surface of batter. When the yeast has fermented, the cake is ready to be steamed. Steam over high heat for 30 minutes and remove. And we are done! Using Pandan leaves adds an additional soft and sweet aroma to this simple steamed rice cake too.

Steamed White Sugar Cake

A Favourite Kuih That Is So Easy To Make

What is so unique about Steamed White Sugar Cake is that it is such a simple cake but it is just so delicious. This cake is sweet but not overly sweet since the recipe requires fermentation with yeast. After steaming, it has very nice fluffy big bubbles inside the cake. Certainly a very pretty sight indeed.

As always, Enjoy!

Steamed White Sugar Cake

Steamed White Sugar Cake (Bak Tong Gou) 蒸白糖糕

Subscribe To Huang Kitchen Recipe Newsletter

Steamed White Sugar Cake (Bak Tong Gou) 蒸白糖糕

Recipe by Huang Kitchen, Angie Liew
Steamed White Sugar Cake, or commonly known as Bak Tong Gou (白糖糕) is a nostalgic classic in Chinese bakeries. A traditional chinese snack, these Steamed White Sugar Cakes are deliciously soft and moist. Best known for its wonderfully spongy honeycomb-like texture. Its so easy to recreate this traditional kuih at home.
Prep Time20 minutes
Cook Time30 minutes

Tap or Hover to Adjust Servings

Servings: 8 people

Ingredients
 

Ingredient A:

  • 1 tsp instant yeast
  • 1 tbsp water, lukewarm

Ingredient B:

  • 300 grams rice flour, sifted
  • 280 grams water, room temperature

Ingredient C:

  • 200 grams sugar
  • 340 grams water, room temperature
  • 3 pieces pandan leaves, knotted

Ingredient:

  • ½ tsp cooking oil

    Instructions
     

    Proof the Yeast:

    • To proof instant yeast.
      Start by dissolving 1 teaspoon instant yeast in 1 tbsp lukewarm water.
    • Proof yeast for 10 minutes.
      Set aside the mixture for 10 minutes or until the mixture turns foamy.

    Make the Cake Batter:

    • Rice cake ingredients
      Have ready rice flour and water.
    • Preparing steamed rice cake batter.
      Place sifted rice flour into a medium size bowl and add in water. Whisk and combine till you get a thick and smooth batter. Then set aside.
    • Preparing steamed rice cake ingredients
      Next, have ready sugar, water and knotted pandan leaves.
    • Dissolve sugar in water.
      In a saucepan, heat up the sugar with water and pandan leaves until sugar dissolves.
    • Add boiling sugar water to rice flour mixture
      Then slowly pour the hot sugar syrup into the rice flour mixture, stirring it constantly to prevent lumps forming.
    • Cool the rice cake batter before adding yeast.
      Leave aside the rice flour mixture to cool until warm. (about 30 C)
    • Add in yeast.
      When cooled, add in the foamy instant yeast mixture and stir well to combine everything together.
    • Cover with plastic wrap and proof 2 hours.
      Then cover with plastic wrap and leave to proof in a warm environment for 2 hours.
    • Proof till large bubbles form on surface.
      Or until large bubbles form on the surface.
    • Add oil into batter before steaming.
      When ready, add in 1/2 tsp of cooking oil. Stir the batter again, mixing well. And we are ready to steam the cake.

    Steam the rice cake:

    • Prepare steamer to steam the rice cake.
      Prepare steamer by bringing the water in the steamer to a rapid boil.
    • Brush a 10 inch cake pan with cooking oil.
      Brush a 10 inch round cake pan with cooking oil.
    • Pour batter into oiled pan.
      Pour the ready batter into the oiled cake pan.
    • Rest batter till small bubbles appear.
      Rest 20 minutes until small bubbles appear.
    • Place batter into steamer.
      Place in steamer and steam for 30 minutes on high heat.
    • Steamed White Cake
      Remove the cake pan from steamer and let cool on the counter before cutting the cake.

    Serve the rice cake:

    • Use a spatula to loosen the edge of cake pan.
      Once it is cool enough to handle, gently run a spatula along the edges to loosen the cake from the sides of the pan. Then remove the rice cake from pan.
    • Steamed White Sugar Cake
      Simply cut the white rice cake into slices and served as snacks.

Enjoy!

Tried this recipe?Mention @HuangKitchen or tag #huangkitchen!

Recipe Video

Notes

To make this rice cake, the yeast used must be fresh and active so that the cake can rise and have the honeycomb spongy texture.  After adding lukewarm water to the yeast, it should have bubbles, turn foamy after 5 to 10 minutes. 
Pour the hot syrup into the rice flour mixture very slowly and stir continuously to prevent lumps. This will ensure a smooth batter.
If you do not see large bubbles on the surface of batter after proofing for 2 hours, let it continue to proof for another 30 minutes.
Make sure to stir the mixture well before pouring the rice flour batter into the cake pan.
Avoid over steaming the cake batter as this will make the rice cake dry. The texture should be soft and moist.
You can adjust the amount of sugar if you like it sweeter or less sweet. 
Cut the steamed rice cake only when it is completely cooled, about 1 to 2 hours.
Course: Dessert, Snacks
Cuisine: Asian, Chinese, Malaysian
Keyword: kuih, steamed

You may also like these recipes

4.50 from 4 votes (1 rating without comment)

Leave a Comment

If you like this recipe, rate 5 stars




57 comments

Paine April 12, 2024 - 11:12 am

4 stars
I failed twice before with a different recipe so I was excited when I cut it apart, I saw the honeycomb texture. I also half the recipe and steamed it in an 8 inch pan, left out the pandan leaves. I steamed it for 25 min instead and checked with a toothpick, had only very little pieces stuck to it. You have to let it cool completely to eat, we were impatient, so it tasted more floury and tart than others we tried. Once it was cooled after 2 hours, it was less tart. The top part was not floury but the bottom part was still a little bit. So I wonder if I didn’t steam long enough? Overall, I would go back and try again with this. I tested my yeast to make sure it’s alive, but it never foam up as much as the photo in this recipe. Also after I proofed it for 2 hours in my oven with the proof function, it also didn’t have big bubbles like this recipe, but had some small bubbles and I smelled the fermentation. I steamed it on medium high as well.

Reply
Angie Liew May 10, 2024 - 5:57 pm

Make sure the yeast used are fresh so you get big bubbles. Thanks for your feedback.

Reply
Patricia Chang March 11, 2024 - 10:12 am

Hi Angie. I made half of this recipe, it was a success! Lots of honeycomb & chewy too. Thanks for sharing this recipe.

Reply
Angie Liew March 17, 2024 - 11:05 pm

You are most welcome. Thanks for the feedback.

Reply
Patricia March 7, 2024 - 10:58 am

Hi Angie. I tried making this twice, both failed. The bottom half of the cake didn’t rise at all, it was sticky & dense. The top half was ok, it had holes & fluffy. Why was the bottom half dense & sticky? Thanks for your feedback.

Reply
Alice Lee September 21, 2022 - 9:26 pm

Hi Angie

Can I half your recipe for a one person portion? Thanks

Reply
Angie Liew September 25, 2022 - 10:03 pm

Should not be a problem. You will need to use a smaller plate to steam.

Reply
Jenny October 12, 2021 - 1:45 pm

5 stars
Hi, I only have confectioners sugar. Will 200g of that be alright to use for this recipe? Thanks!

Reply
Angie Liew October 13, 2021 - 9:50 am

I personally have not used icing sugar for this. Don’t think you can as it will affect the success of the recipe as castor sugar and icing sugar are not the same.

Reply
Lilo Wee July 14, 2021 - 8:03 am

5 stars
Hi Angie, how to store the cake and how long does it lasts?

Thank you

Reply
Angie Liew July 14, 2021 - 5:30 pm

Hi, this cake is best taken fresh. If it is just for up to 2 days, you can store in an airtight container at room temperature. For longer period it is better to put the container in the fridge or freeze them. Re-steam the cake until soft again before consume. Can be kept maybe up to a week in the fridge/freezer.

Reply
Barb April 18, 2021 - 7:18 pm

What kind of rice flour – glutinous or regular?

Reply
Angie Liew April 19, 2021 - 3:23 pm

This is rice flour. Not glutinous rice flour or plain flour.

Reply
Nitz March 22, 2021 - 9:38 pm

Hi Angie,

My first trial using brown sugar was indeed perfect. My rice mixture had big bubbles when I left it to proof.

Thank you for sharing this recipe.

Reply
Nitz March 18, 2021 - 8:24 pm

Hi Angie

Can I use dark brown sugar instead of white?

Thanks a lot,

Reply
Angie Liew March 20, 2021 - 12:35 am

Yes, you can. The cake will however will not be white in colour. Thanks

Reply
Kerrie February 20, 2021 - 1:11 am

My rice cake was looking really good it rose like it was supposed to and it looked great while steaming and then it fell flat after 30 minutes! What did I do wrong???

Reply
Angie Liew February 21, 2021 - 12:00 pm

Hi, the rice cake may fall while cooling if it is not thoroughly steamed. Check for doneness before removing from steamer by inserting a toothpick in the centre of cake and it should come out clean if cooked.

Reply
Jonathon Wong February 10, 2021 - 6:14 pm

Hi Angie,

I tried your recipe with the same measurements but when I steamed the cake it didn’t have the honeycomb texture. It was like a fudge consistency “steamed white fudged cake” lol, I’m trying to figure out what went wrong still. Any suggestions?

Reply
Angie Liew February 12, 2021 - 1:06 am

Did you make sure the instant yeast is active? Bubbles should appear when you proof the yeast if it is still good.

Reply
Melanie December 25, 2020 - 1:21 pm

What brand of yeast do you use? I’m so jealous of your proofing! My batter turned out very runny with small bubbles, it felt like the rice flour just sunk to the bottom of the pan. Even after steaming for close to an hour the whole thing was still rather gooey and undercooked (I measured by weight). Does adding the boiling sugar syrup cook the batter possibly? I waited a few seconds so the syrup wasn’t quite boiling when I added it to the batter

Reply
Angie Liew December 27, 2020 - 5:22 pm

Hi, you can use any type of instant yeast. The important thing is to make sure that the yeast is still active. That’s why you need to proof the yeast. You must make sure the yeast mixture turns foamy which means the yeast is good and active. Otherwise you may need to get some fresh ones instead. Also make sure your rice flour mixture is cooled down to lukewarm before adding the foamy yeast mixture. If the liquid is too hot, the yeast may be “killed”.

Reply
ming November 7, 2020 - 10:24 am

MING
November 7, 2020 – 10:22 am
Your comment is awaiting approval
Hi Angie, I would like to try your recipe today 😉 May I confirm if the measurement for water should be in ml or gram? Thanks a lot!

Reply
Crystal Ng October 22, 2020 - 5:37 pm

Halo…..I would like to check with you, can I make it tonight and leave it till the next day night?

Reply
Angie Liew October 22, 2020 - 6:19 pm

Yes, you can cover and store the cake at room temperature for up to 24 hours. After that you can refrigerate for up to 3 to 4 days. To reheat, warm in the microwave or by light steaming.

Reply
Crystal Ng October 29, 2020 - 9:15 pm

Thanks so much for your sharing. I’ve tried it out last Friday. But too bad, it failed.
While steaming, the stand that holds the 8”pan, turns to one side. So ended up it looks like a hill with a slope down! 😬😭

And the thick side (mountain), didn’t have any texture but just flat and thick. The thin side (slope) has the comb texture. I’m so sad with it after hours of preparing it.

Do I need to leave a hole or something on the cover when steaming it?

Reply
Angie Liew October 30, 2020 - 1:28 am

Hi, so sorry to hear of what happened. There is no need to leave any opening when steaming the cake. Just use high heat will do. All the best if you are making it again. Do let me know how it turns out. Enjoy!

Reply
White Sugar Cake | icecubecookpraylove September 17, 2020 - 9:57 pm

[…] Steamed White Sugar Cake (Bak Tong Gou) 蒸白糖糕 […]

Reply
Hannah September 16, 2020 - 6:40 pm

I tried this but the smell of yeast turned out too strong. What does 10minutes mean? Do I prepare the mixture 10minutes before pouring it to B mixture? I’m thinking I might have it too early cause it was waiting for almost 30minutes.

Reply
Angie Liew September 17, 2020 - 3:26 pm

The 10 minutes wait is to make sure the yeast you are using is active (not expired). So, as long as it turns foamy, you can pour into mixture B. Thanks.

Reply
rita September 7, 2020 - 12:39 pm

Hi, After pour the ready batter into the pan, should I leave it to rest for 20 mins before steaming?
Thanks

Reply
Angie Liew September 7, 2020 - 12:48 pm

Best to do that. Even if you don’t it should be fine as long as you leave to proof until big bubbles formed earlier. Thanks

Reply
rita September 7, 2020 - 12:38 pm

Hi, After pour the ready batter into the pan, should I leave it to rest for 20 mins before steaming?
Thanks
Rita

Reply
Angie Liew September 7, 2020 - 12:49 pm

Yes, you can

Reply
Helen August 13, 2020 - 6:57 am

Also, can you change the grams into cups for me? I don’t have a scale.

Reply
Helen August 13, 2020 - 6:54 am

What if you don’t have pandan leaves?

Reply
Angie Liew September 4, 2020 - 12:03 am

Just leave out the pandan leaves. It will taste just as great.

Reply
Jen August 1, 2020 - 10:12 pm

I only have 9″ round pan. Should I make any adjustments?

Reply
Angie Liew August 7, 2020 - 4:33 pm

It should be fine. There is no need to make any adjustment.The cake will just be thicker/ higher. Thanks

Reply
TravelPhotoGal July 30, 2020 - 5:57 pm

Aloha from Maui, Hawaii and thank you so much for this. After 2 failed attempts using another recipe (with oven proofing), your recipe came up perfect even though my instant yeast (different brands, multiple packets) wouldn’t bubble as much as yours. I didn’t have the leaves either, so I am thrilled.

Reply
Angie Liew August 7, 2020 - 4:34 pm

So glad you like it. Thanks for the feedback. Enjoy!

Reply
ming November 7, 2020 - 10:22 am

Hi Angie, I would like to try your recipe today 😉 May I confirm if the measurement for water should be in ml or gram? Thanks a lot!

Reply
Angie Liew November 7, 2020 - 10:39 am

Actually ml and gram is the same for water. So you can use either. Let me know how it turns out. Enjoy

Reply
Ming November 7, 2020 - 8:33 pm

Hi Angie, thanks a lot for your reply. My cake turned out dense and a tad dry with the top layer cracked. Does this mean it’s over steamed? I’ve a confession ~ i actually forgot about it during the fermentation and only steamed 6 hours later😬 Did this impact how the cake was supposed to turn out? I didn’t get the large bubbles like you, just a lot of tiny bubbles. Thank you!

Angie Liew November 7, 2020 - 11:41 pm

I think you have over proof. You can follow the steps in my website for more details. Thanks

Crystal Ng November 21, 2020 - 3:23 pm

Dear, I managed to do it and it’s yummy!
I reduced the sugar to 180gm, cos I want to take care of my weight 😬🤣
The bubble wasn’t so much like yours during the process of fermentation.

The top part is a bit sticky when I cut it. I will try to do it again. But the taste turns out yummy!!!
Thanks so much for the recipe dear.

Angie Liew November 25, 2020 - 5:37 pm

Thanks for the feedback. Did not steam enough? Do update on your next attempt.

geo young July 2, 2020 - 1:57 pm

Will it taste different if I leave out the pandan leaves? I am not sure I can find it in the stores where I live.

Reply
Angie Liew July 6, 2020 - 11:55 pm

Yes, it will taste as great without the pandan leaves. It’s fine to leave it out. Thanks

Reply
yen August 11, 2020 - 8:06 am

Can i just leave the flour mix to proof in normal room temperature?

Reply
Angie Liew September 4, 2020 - 12:04 am

Yes, just leave to proof at room temperature.

Reply
Julie May 31, 2020 - 7:38 am

Hi Angie! Love your site…….just wondering if you can make the recipe for steamed white sugar cake without the pandan leaves. I don’t have easy access to that, and I don’t remember my mom using that when she made this for us as kids! Will it taste completely different???? Thanks!

Reply
Angie Liew May 31, 2020 - 9:28 am

Hi Julie, you certainly can leave out the Pandan Leaves if it’s not available. It’s just to add extra fragrance to the cake. Taste just as nice without. No worries. So happy to know you like our site!

Reply
yen August 11, 2020 - 7:55 pm

Can i check if I can just leave the mix to proof at room temperature as i do not have an oven hence no warm environment for proofing it? Will i need to allocate more time if i just leave it covered at room temperature?

Reply
Angie Liew August 11, 2020 - 9:16 pm

Just leave to proof at room temperature will do. There is no need to put in an oven. Just proof till you see bubbles formed. Thanks

Reply
yen August 12, 2020 - 11:40 am

Thanks. Cos earlier i had tried another recipe online and i left the mix to proof at rm temperature for 2 hours. I saw only some small bubbles on top. When i went to steam it for 40 mins, it remained wet and soggy. Was wondering if it is because the proofing was done at rm temp

Angie Liew August 12, 2020 - 12:37 pm

When there is little bubbles, just leave for a little while longer. Sometimes the temperature varies a bit depending on where you leave it. Thanks

Huang Kitchen